Mechanism for treating wire rope



Dec. 25, 1945 H. J. MISCHE 93 MECHANISM FOR TREATINQ WIRE ROPE FiledJuly 7, 1943 Patented Dec. 25, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AmericanChain & Cable Company,

Inc'.,

Bridgeport, Conn., a corporation of New York Application July 7, 1943,SerialNo. 493,798

4 Claims.

This invention relates to mechanism for treating wire, wire strands,wire cable, and wire rope.

Various ropes or the like as they come ofi the rope making machinepossess residual, torsional, and bending stresses due to the methodemployed. Devices have been provided for removing these stresses fromregular-lay ropes by drawing the rope through ofiset rolls, sufficientlyoffset to subject component wires to a bending stress which coupled withthe tensile stresses from drawing the rope through the rolls, exceedsthe elastic limit. This is done to give the component wires a permanentset tending to make them lie inert in the rope.

I am familiar with machines which comprise a set of offset rolls ofisetin a single plane and at least another set of ofiset rolls also oifsetin a single plane but which extends at right angles to the plane of thefirst set. These machines include provision for changin the amount ofoffset between the rolls requiring is many adjustments as there arerolls in the several sets. These adjustments must be made with care.Furthermore no provision is made in these machines for adjusting therolls relatively in the direction of the travel of the rope and it ispractically impossible to use rolls of sufficiently small diameter andsufliciently closely spaced as required for best performance when themachine is to be used for treating very small diameter wires, wirestrands, wire cables, or wire ropes.

Among the objects of my invention is the provision of a wire, strand,cable, or rope treating mechanism which is inexpensive to construct andin which the ofiset bending elements may be closely spaced and readilyadjustable in the direction of the travel of the rope, etc. and also atright angles to the travel of the rope and in which many of theseelements may be arranged in a small space and in which provision is madefor adjusting such elements to bring any part thereof into functioningposition. In the accomplishment of these objects I employ two helices ineach set of rope treating devices which have their convolutionsintermeshed to such an extent as to provide an opening between theopposed inner faces of the respective convolutions of the helices toreceive a wire, strand, cable, or rope to be straightened with provisionfor changing the amount of intermesh and with provision for changing thepitch of the helices.

Other objects of this invention will appear from the followingdescription taken in connection with the drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is atop plan view of one embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view looking upwardly in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is an end elevational view looking to- Ward the left in Fig. 1.

For the purpose of disclosure I have shown a preferred embodiment of myinvention as comprising a supporting base 5 on which are mounted twosets of straightening devices A and B disposed at right angles withrespect to eachv other as indicated in the drawing.

The straightening device A comprises two intermeshed helices l and 8preferably of opposite turn. The helices may be of spring material andnormally cylindrical. The helix 1 is supported on a bracket 9 secured tothe base 5 by screw bolts as indicated in Fig. 3. This helix ispreferably secured to the bracket 9 by means of a clamping plate 10provided with threaded studs or bolts ll extending through the bracketand equipped with nuts l2 for drawing the clamping plate toward thebracket. As indicated in Fig. 1 the clamping plate is longer than thehelix 1 providing for an axial extensionor contraction of the helix forthe purpose of adjusting the longitudinal spacing of the parts of theconvolutions which engage and treat the rope.

The helix 8 is similarly supported on a bracket M the base of which isprovided with slots 15 receiving threaded bolts l6 which are threadedinto the base 5 so as to provide means for adjusting and varying thedistance between the axes of the helices I and 8 to adjust the amount ofintermesh of the helices and the amount of offset of the rope treatingparts of the convolutions of the respective helices.

The rope treating device B is of substantially the same construction asthat of the device A. It includes the helices l1 and IS. The helix I1 isdirectly secured to the base 5 by a clamping plate In. The helix [8 issecured by means of a clamping plate ID to the horizontal portion IQ ofan L-shaped bracket whose vertical portion [0 is slotted as indicated at2| to receive bolts 22 extending through the upwardly extending portion23 of an L-shaped bracket, the base 24 of which is secured to the base 5by screw threaded bolts 25 as indicated. The bolts 22 are provided withnuts 26 by means of which the helix l8 may be held in adjusted relationwith respect to the helix l1 and the operative and functioning parts ofthe convolutions to the respective helices held offset the desiredamount.

The helices provide transversely extending cushioned working elementswhich have oppositely facing concave working faces which function tocenter the rope as it is drawn through the devices. The helices may berotated to present new parts to the rope in case of wear. The oilsetrelation of the operative or functionin parts of the helices may readilybe changed as found desirable for different diameter ropes and degreesof bending necessary to straighten the rope and to render it inert. Thelongitudinal spacing of the operative or functioning parts may readilybe adjusted by clamping the helices in position when stretched orcompressed the desired amount. The use of helices of opposite turnsprovides a construction in which the operative or functioning parts ofthe convolutions of the helices lie in arallel planes.

Instead of employing helices of small pitch and closely spacedconvolutions as disclosed I may use helices of greater pitch and spacethe helices laterally. By using intermeshed helices of close- 1y spacedconvolutions the rope will'be worked by transverse compression not onlyas it is drawn over the inner faces of the convolutions but also as itis drawn between the adjacent side faces of the closely spaced adjacentconvolutions of the respective helices.

For convenience of claiming any invention, I employ the term rope in ageneric sense to cover ropes, cables, strands, wires, etc. which may bestraightened in the apparatus of my invention.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity what I regardas the best form of one embodiment of my invention, it is to beunderstood that I reserve the right to all such changes and embodimentsas fall within the principle of this invention and .the scope of theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A straightening mechanism comprising two sets of parallel heliceswith the convolutions of each set intermeshed to an extent to provide aninterior opening between their inner opposed faces to receive a wirerope to be straightened and with the axes of all the helices parallel,the common axial plane of one set being disposed at right angles to thatof the other set and the openings between the convolutions of the setslying in the same line.

2. A wire rope treating mechanism for rendering wire rope inert,comprising a pair of parallel helices intermeshed to provide betweentheir overlapped portions a tortuous path for the wire rope, and meansfor adjusting the distance between the axes of said helices and forholding said helices in fixed spaced relation to each other.

3. A wire rope treating mechanism for rendering wire rope inert,comprising a pair of parallel cylindrical helices intermeshed to providebetween their overlapped portions a tortuous path for the wire rope, andmeans for securing said helices in any rotated position and in fixedspaced relation to each other.

4. A wire rope treating mechanism for rendering wire rope inert,comprising a pair of parallel helices intermeshed to provide betweentheir overlapped portions a tortuous path for the wire rope, saidhelices being elongatable and contractible and means for securing saidhelices in elongated, contracted and normal conditions and in fixedspaced relation to each other.

HENRY J. MISCHE.

